These activities for your little one are simple enough to make part of your routine: during playtime, or during meals and snacks.
Activities by Age for Birth to 5 Months
ON THIS PAGE
- Beginning Writing
- Letter Knowledge
- Oral Language
- Phonological Awareness
Give Me Space
Spending time on a blanket on the floor gives your baby more freedom to move her arms, legs and body.
I’m Learning to Control My Body
Here are some things you can do to help your baby develop motor skills.
Shake, Rattle and Roll!
Foster the development of your baby’s hand grasp by placing an infant rattle or soft toy in the palm of her hand.
So Much to Learn!
Here are some ideas to help your little one develop better strength and fine motor control.
Touch and Feel Sensory Board
Sensory materials help your baby learn fine motor hand movements.
Touch-and-Feel Book Fun
This activity provides baby with touch-and-feel exploration using a variety of textured fabrics.
Tummy to Play
Each day, give your baby time to play and explore her environment as she spends time on her stomach.
“Grasping” for Fun
Grasping is an important fine motor skill needed for eye-hand coordination and eventually for controlling and holding writing tools.
“Reaching” for Fun
A fine motor skill activity for a baby at this age includes working on and developing better muscle strength and control.
“Releasing” for Fun
Infants this age are learning to grasp and release objects. Give your baby lots of opportunities to practice this skill.
A World of Shapes
Here is a playful way you can introduce the world of shapes to your baby.
Do What I Do
Infants enjoy looking at faces. Use your facial expressions to help your baby begin to notice changes in the things he sees.
Flashlight Fun!
This simple game will help your little one focus on a shape with his eyes.
Follow My Lead!
Here’s how to have fun with face-to-face social routines when your baby shows interest in herself or you!
Let's Look Together
An activity that introduces basic shapes and images to help set the stage for letter learning and pre-reading skills.
Look!
Within the first few months, your baby will develop the ability to focus on an object and track the motion of the object from left to right.
My Name Is Special
One of the first words your baby will understand is her name. This fun activity allows babies to hear and see their name spelled out.
Never Too Young for Books!
It’s a good idea to start exposing your baby to books now.
Photograph Fun
Foster language and literacy development by calling attention to pictures and the printed word during everyday activities.
Read and Touch
Here’s how to read to your baby and encourage learning through touch.
Ribbon Grasp
This activity will help your baby learn to grasp objects — a skill needed to hold a pencil later on.
Sing, Sing, Sing. Talk, Talk, Talk.
Babies love the sound of their mother’s voice. It is soothing and comforting and is their favorite sound.
Your Beautiful Eyes
You can help your baby develop by establishing and maintaining eye contact with her during pleasurable activities.
Face-to-Face Time!
From birth to about age 5 months, infants are especially interested in looking at your face.
Floor Time, Explore Time
Provide many safe opportunities for movement and exploration.
Getting to Know You
Increase blossoming communication development by adapting your behaviors to the “rhythm” of your infant’s needs.
Keep It Real
React to the sounds your child is making — make them back and create a back-and-forth conversation between you and your child.
My Baby Just Smiled at Me!
When you interact face-to-face with your baby, you show just how important your baby is to you.
My Baby’s First Conversations!
As you react to the sounds your infant makes, you will have your first “conversations” with your little one.
My Tiny Hand
This activity invites you to sing favorite family songs and lullabies to share your cultural traditions and foster language skills.
Soothing Singing
Humming and singing to your baby soothes him and gives you some happy bonding time.
Splish Splash Baby
Creative play with water and words will stimulate your baby’s language and cognitive development.
What Am I Doing?
Stimulate your baby’s oral language abilities by just talking to her … about anything!
Word Awareness
Help your baby learn descriptive words with this fun activity!
Baby Sound Play
Babies this age begin to understand spoken words before they actually utter their first true word.
Baby Talk
As soon as your baby begins to "coo," you can respond to these early attempts at communication by "cooing" right back.
Barnyard Friends
Help your baby develop his listening skills and awareness of language by introducing him to verbal sounds and words.
Easy Listening
Help your baby learn to focus on sounds to pave the way for later accomplishments in phonological awareness.
Infant Talk
Infant-directed speech includes talking to your baby in a higher pitch, slower rate and exaggerated intonation.
Look at You!
Use a mirror to provide a fun time for your baby to see himself.
My Turn, Your Turn!
Practice for future conversations with your child by taking turns interacting and “talking” together.
Syllables and Songs
Songs are a perfect way to introduce babies to syllables, because in music each syllable gets one note (beat).
Who Needs? You Need!
When talking to your baby, it’s important to exaggerate words, slow down your speech and elevate the pitch of the words you use.